I'll take the greenlight, but I submitted this with a different headline. I want to make it clear that I really, really hate this. And mind you, I like jazz.

My dislike stems from the fact that it's a cover that sounds like elevator music, or something you'd hear while shopping at the grocery store. It may also be because I've been listening to Django Reinhard, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane for the last few days for a jazz history course I'm taking. Much better than this.

God, I hate jazz.

I thought nothing could make Nirvana worse, but I was wrong. I made it 30 seconds in and wanted to punch my monitor.

I'm still all grrrr.

WolfinPHX: Django Reinhardt

/FTFM.

surprised Stanley Jordan hasn't covered Come As You Are, tough really Smells Like Teen Spirit would be his thing.

Bing, Bang, Boom! is a great album. This is probably one of the best Nirvana covers I've heard. Although the Paul Anka cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit is pretty superlative.

Do you guys not realize Charlie is playing the guitar AND bass parts at the same time on the same instrument? He's a f'in monster player, I've seen him live several times. He did a cover of "No woman, no cry" for a series of Marley covers Blue Note put out in the 90's that brought tears to my eyes when I heard it out. Amazing musician. shiat song in this case, but amazing musician :)

Fast forward to 2:27 in if you want to skip the Euro MT vajay-jay asshattery.

Actually doesn't sound too bad for jazz music, once you get through the intro.

Wait a minute...they play music on MTV in Europe?!?

I had the privilege of seeing Charlie perform a few years ago, playing the 8 string guitar with the 3 bass strings routed through a bass amp and the 5 guitar strings through a Leslie. Most of the time it was just he and the drummer playing, but you'd swear there were 4 guys playing. The dude is an incredible musician.

Ender_rpm: Do you guys not realize Charlie is playing the guitar AND bass parts at the same time on the same instrument?

It still sucks.

i never understood why this song gets linked so much..

its nothing when you compare it to all the other stuff Charlie Hunter has done..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQrHcy3p9vU
now.. this.. this is a cover worth watching..

and yes.. charlie hunter is a madman live..

The Duke of Carrot Flowers: Ender_rpm: Do you guys not realize Charlie is playing the guitar AND bass parts at the same time on the same instrument?

It still sucks.

I like Hunter, but this cover was pretty boring. No one in here is denying his talents as a musician.

nocode: The Duke of Carrot Flowers: Ender_rpm: Do you guys not realize Charlie is playing the guitar AND bass parts at the same time on the same instrument?

It still sucks.

I like Hunter, but this cover was pretty boring. No one in here is denying his talents as a musician.

Yeah, this was a snooze. the song really isn't right for this type of interpretation.

i like Nirvana and I like all kinds of music, but this was 100% comprehensible.

I couldn't stand it.

one of the worst attempts a covering any song I may have ever heard.

"Difficulty"?
/MTV Europe - Ray Cokes = 0

wood: this was 100% comprehensible.

I agree. I comprehended it 100%

Huh?

Anyway. I'm always sad there aren't people on Fark that treat jazz the way they treat heavy metal, so here's my two cents: this is not jazz. Not even a little bit. This is played on jazz instruments, maybe, and certainly a jazz arrangement, but any of the fluidity, or any other off-the-books quality, is entirely absent.

Sorry, Charlie. You're a wonderful instrumentalist, and a hoot to watch play, but I just can't get behind this.

OMG that VJ needs a serious cock punch

Seeing Charlie Hunter live is like seeing a circus freak show. I usually just stare at the stage with eyes wide open and a dropped jaw. I seriously can't understand how he does it - one show I saw he finished with a rhythm changes at about 320bpm and he didn't flub a note. Guy's insane.

februarymakeup: this is not jazz. Not even a little bit. This is played on jazz instruments, maybe, and certainly a jazz arrangement, but any of the fluidity, or any other off-the-books quality, is entirely absent.

hmm. i don't think you can make that case. there's an identifiable head and improv-laden solos that follow. you can say it's jam-band-jazz or something, and that you don't like that sub-genre. but i'm pretty sure it fits under the big tent of jazz.

not that it matters overmuch but imho "jazz purist" is an oxymoron. like miles said, there's only two kinds of music in the world, good music and bad music.

floodmatt: now.. this.. this is a cover worth watching..

very cool. here's charlie riffing on a gospel tune , just the man and his 8 strings.

i caught him life in SF on july 4th and loved the show. 1/3 of it was boring, 1/3 of it was pretty good, and 1/3 of it reminded me why life is worth living. i'll take it. at his best, charlie sounds like two wildly competent, melody-driven people jamming together.

Not very good, unfortunately. That song doesn't lend itself to a jazz interpretation.

I could not make it past the inane banter.

Jazz blows. But heroin addled noise that gets mistakenly regarded as genius blows much worse.

Wow, that was surprisingly far, far worse than I would have expected.

2 minutes of a completely ignorant host introducing these guys just to listen to them half-ass a Jazz cover of CAYA? Weak.

februarymakeup: wood: this was 100% comprehensible.

I agree. I comprehended it 100%

Huh?

Anyway. I'm always sad there aren't people on Fark that treat jazz the way they treat heavy metal, so here's my two cents: this is not jazz. Not even a little bit. This is played on jazz instruments, maybe, and certainly a jazz arrangement, but any of the fluidity, or any other off-the-books quality, is entirely absent.

Sorry, Charlie. You're a wonderful instrumentalist, and a hoot to watch play, but I just can't get behind this.


foiled again by Mr. SpellChecker.

/i'll get you my pretty.

//

Davescookies: Jazz blows. But heroin addled noise that gets mistakenly regarded as genius blows much worse.

You blow.

/I win?

This sounds dope. Don't knock a song because you hate a genre. Instead, comment elsewhere where people love to read whiny biatches.

He starts w/ Smells Like Teen Spirit and then goes into Come As You Are, this IMO, makes this crappy cover all the more craptastic.

I'm under the impression that Charlie Hunter is among wankers like Wooten and Vai.

However, I do like his Fly Like an Eagle and he does an excellent solo version of Mingus' Fables of Faubus, but those are the only two songs of his i've heard that are worth a shiat.

mitchcumpstein: Davescookies: Jazz blows. But heroin addled noise that gets mistakenly regarded as genius blows much worse.

You blow.

/I win?

blow FTW

meddlin' kid: ...like miles said, there's only two kinds of music in the world, good music and bad music.

Just about everyone has said this, though I've never seen it attributed to Miles. At any rate, he certainly wasn't the first.

I enjoy working with CH.

Davescookies: Jazz blows. But heroin addled noise that gets mistakenly regarded as genius blows much worse.

Clearly you are the authority on blowing.

Color me impressed.

Next time I hit Plan9 music, I'll be on the look out for Charlie Hunter Trio cds.

Jazz does not blow. If you think the likes of Satchmo, Parker, Coltrane, Davis, Mingus, or Powell suck, then you have no taste in music whatsoever and your opinion on any matter is worthless.

Just sayin'.

(Okay, Davis' heroin noise does suck. I'll give you that one. But just that one.)

The melody in this cover definitely makes it sound like a bizzaro-world elevator tune, and it does pretty much suck.

But the solo is better, though. Not much, but better.

Thunderboy: I enjoy working with CH.

how have you worked with him? just curious. share stories, man, that's what we're here for. :-)

I saw this guy years back at a venue for about 200 people. His special guest for the night was a young woman who came out and played some keys and sang a couple songs. Later that year everyone knew who Norah Jones was.

I know people like to make fun of her. But she wasn't singing her snoozy songs, she was belting out standards with the trio and it was quite a treat, especially with such a small venue and to have a good vantage point.

februarymakeup: this is not jazz.

Did you get past the 4:00 minute mark? If that ain't jazz, then I don't know what it is. Is it Kind of Blue? No. But that's jazz.

Anyway, Two for Bleu is what got me into him ... great song.

meddlin' kid: Thunderboy: I enjoy working with CH.

how have you worked with him? just curious. share stories, man, that's what we're here for. :-)

I'm an audio engineer and have done sound for him on numerous occasions. He's a really nice guy and just insanely talented. I could watch him play tambourine for an hour without getting bored. No real "stories" to speak of.

That drummer's a dick. Throughout the piece he's essentially just playing a solo in a different-but-somewhat-related time signature from the other two guys; not contributing anything to the music, just showing off.

Travesty

I like Nirvana.

I also like jazz (Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans, John McLaughlin, Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, etc., etc., etc.)

I was really prepared to enjoy this, but sadly it bored me to tears. No swing of any kind at all. Inelegant arrangement. Even his tone sucked.

Boo.

carmody: I like Nirvana.

I also like jazz (Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans, John McLaughlin, Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, etc., etc., etc.)

I was really prepared to enjoy this, but sadly it bored me to tears. No swing of any kind at all. Inelegant arrangement. Even his tone sucked.

Boo.

I agree. This cover of Come as you Are is very early Charlie Hunter, at this point he has not really refined his eight-string style. But the stuff he's done in the last 10 years is very awesome--check out Garage a Trois's first album "Emphasizer" and the album by the Charlie Hunter Quintet called "Right Now Move".